Appomattox: The Passing of the Armies

James W. Wensyel

On March 31, 1865, Union General Philip H. Sheridan turns the right flank of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Five Forks, Virginia. Hours later Union General in Chief Ulysses S. Grant orders an all-out assault across the Confederate front. By evening, Lee's line is shattered and his army has begun a retreat to the west, abandoning Richmond and Petersburg in a desperate attempt to link with Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina. Richmond and Petersburg are burning, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis is moving his government to the relative safety of Danville, Virginia.

Appomattox is the story of the retreat of Lee's army, the constant skirmishing which accompanies that retreat, and Lee's surrender to Grant on April 9, 1865.

Appomattox is told through conversations and scenes involving individuals on each side. Including narrative, it is accurate in its portrayal of the events leading to the end of our Civil War and its portrayal of the individuals and the armies caught up in the Appomattox Campaign.

"James W. Wensyel offers an artful reconstruction of the events preceding and following Appomattox."